Top 10 Promising Companies To Invest In Right Now

Onyx Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ONXX  ) is having a garage sale, but it doesn't appear that Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN  ) has been invited.

The promising cancer developer confirmed over the weekend that Amgen had made an offer to acquire Onyx for $120 per share, a 38.2% premium above Friday's close. Onyx certainly didn't waste any time rejecting the bid, commenting that it "significantly undervalued Onyx and its prospects, and was not in the best interest of Onyx or its shareholders." That hasn't, however, stopped Onyx from actively engaging in additional acquisition chatter with other interested parties outside of Amgen.

The interest in Onyx will come down to two big questions: How much is it worth considering that it only receives a percentage of net sales on two of its three cancer drugs? And who might the buyer be?

How Onyx makes its money
The first question, as I've noted, is quite tricky.

Nexavar, the company's most mature cancer drug, is currently approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat the most common forms of kidney and liver cancer. Aside from Japan, though, it splits the profits of Nexavar with licensing partner Bayer�down the middle. There's also a strong possibility that Nexavar could be in line for an added indication in treating thyroid cancer based on the extended progression-free survival it delivered relative to the placebo in a late-stage trial.

10 Best Recreation Stocks To Buy For 2016: Nuveen Premium Income Municipal Fund 2 Inc (NPM)

Nuveen Premium Income Municipal Fund 2, Inc. (NPM) is a non-diversified, closed-end management investment company. The Fund seeks to provide current income exempt from regular federal income tax by investing primarily in a portfolio of municipal obligations issued by state and local government authorities or certain United States territories. Nuveen Asset Management (NAM) is the Fund's investment adviser. NAM is a wholly owned subsidiary of Nuveen Investments, Inc. Effective January 1, 2005, Nuveen Advisory Corp. (NAC) and its affiliate, Nuveen Institutional Advisory Corp. (NIAC), were merged into NAM.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Chuck Carnevale]

  Next, I turned to an evaluation of gross profit margin (gpm), net profit margin (npm), return on assets (roa), return on equity (roe) and return on invested capital (roi). The example below only includes gross and net profit margin, however, I review data on all the metrics stated above.

Top 10 Promising Companies To Invest In Right Now: Cohen & Steers Inc (CNS)

Cohen & Steers, Inc. (CNS) is a global investment management firm focused on global real estate securities, global listed infrastructure, real assets, large cap value stocks, and preferred securities. The Company also manages alternative investment strategies such as hedged real estate securities portfolios and private real estate multimanager strategies for qualified investors. It serves individual and institutional investors through a range of investment vehicles. CNS manages three types of accounts: institutional accounts, open-end mutual funds and closed-end mutual funds. Its revenue is derived primarily from investment advisory, administration, distribution and service fees received from open-end and closed-end mutual funds and investment advisory fees received from institutional accounts.

Institutional Accounts

The 113 institutional accounts for which the Company is an investment adviser represent portfolios of securities it manage for institutional clients. It manages the assets in each institutional account in a manner tailored to the investment preferences of that individual client as defined within each client's individual investment advisory agreement. Sub-advisory assets, which may be sold to retail investors, are included in its institutional account assets. Sub-advisory assets represent accounts for which it has been named as a sub-adviser by the investment adviser to that account.

Open-End Mutual Funds

The 14 open-end mutual funds for which the Company is an investment adviser offer and issue new shares continuously as funds are invested and redeem shares when funds are withdrawn. Investment advisory fees for the open-end mutual funds vary based on each fund's investment objective and strategy, fees charged by other comparable mutual funds and the nature of the investors to whom the mutual fund is offered. In addition, it receives a separate fee for providing administrative services to each open-end mutual fund at a rate that is design! ed to reimburse the Company for the cost of providing these services. Each of the open-end mutual funds pays the Company a monthly administration fee based on a percentage of the fund's average assets under management.

Closed-End Mutual Funds

The eight closed-end mutual funds for which the Company is an investment adviser are registered investment companies that have issued a fixed number of shares through public offerings. It receives a separate fee for providing administrative services to seven of the eight closed-end mutual funds at a rate that is designed to reimburse the Company for the cost of providing these services.

Portfolio Consulting and Other Services

The Company maintains two indices, Cohen & Steers Realty Majors Index (RMP) and Cohen & Steers Global Realty Majors Index (GRM). RMP is the basis for the iShares Cohen & Steers Realty Majors Index Fund (ICF) sponsored by BlackRock Institutional Trust Company, N.A. GRM is the basis for Cohen & Steers Global Realty Majors Fund (GRI) sponsored by ALPS Fund Services, Inc. and Claymore Global Real Estate ETF (CGR) sponsored by Claymore Investments, Inc. It provides services in connection with model-based strategies (MBS) accounts. As portfolio consultant for a number of MBS accounts, it constructs portfolios of securities that fulfill the investment objective of the mandate and supply models on a regular basis. As portfolio consultant, it provides several services in connection with investment products, such as unit investment trusts (UITs). As portfolio consultant to a number of UITs, it constructs a portfolio of securities.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Victor Selva]

  Forest Laboratories Inc. (FRX) is one of the largest U.S.-based pharmaceutical companies in the area of developing, producing and selling central nervous system (CNS)-related prescription drugs. The company also focuses on the development and introduction of new products, including products developed in collaboration with licensing partners.

• [By Anna Prior]

  Cohen & Steers Inc.(CNS) said Monday that it will separate the chairman and chief executive roles in January, as the investment management firm divides up the positions among its two namesakes.

Top 10 Promising Companies To Invest In Right Now: Xinyuan Real Estate Co Ltd(XIN)

Xinyuan Real Estate Co. Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, engages in residential real estate development in China. The company?s residential projects comprise various residential buildings that include multi-layer apartment buildings, sub-high-rise apartment buildings, or high-rise apartment buildings; auxiliary services and amenities, such as retail outlets, leisure and health facilities, kindergartens, and schools; and small scale residential properties. It also offers property management and other real estate related services, such as landscaping and installing intercom systems. In addition, the company leases properties, including an elementary school, a basement, three clubhouses, five kindergartens, and parking facilities. As of December 31, 2010, it had 21 completed projects with a total gross floor area (GFA) of approximately 2,049,460 square meters and comprising a total of 23,324 units, as well as 8 projects under construction with a total GFA of 1,804,946 sq uare meters. It primarily operates in seven tier II cities, comprising Hefei, Jinan, Kunshan, Suzhou, Zhengzhou, Xuzhou, and Chengdu. The company was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Beijing, the People?s Republic of China.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Benjamin Shepherd]

  In the meantime though, I would avoid betting on a hard Chinese landing, a bet that has cost many investors dearly over the past few years. I would, however, avoid most of the leading Chinese real estate developers such as China Vanke (OTC: CVKEF) and Xinyuan Real Estate (NYSE: XIN) which are almost entirely dependent on the domestic markets.

Top 10 Promising Companies To Invest In Right Now: Plug Power Inc.(PLUG)

Plug Power Inc., an alternative energy technology provider, involves in the design, development, commercialization, and manufacture of fuel cell systems for the industrial off-road markets and stationary power markets worldwide. It develops and sells a range of fuel cell systems comprising hydrogen-fueled Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) systems. The company?s product line includes PEM GenDrive power unit for sale on commercial terms for industrial off-road consisting of forklift or material handling applications, with a focus on multi-shift high volume manufacturing and high throughput distribution sites. It sells its products to business, industrial, and government customers through direct product sales force, original equipment manufacturers, and their dealer networks. The company was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Latham, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Paul Ausick]

  Since the beginning of the year, fuel cell makers Plug Power Inc. (NASDAQ: PLUG) and FuelCell Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: FCEL) have posted share price gains of around 289% and 76%, respectively, with most of the spike coming since the middle of February. A year ago, Plug Power stock was trading at $0.25 on its way down to $0.15. The stock closed Monday night at $5.69, after peaking at $11.72 on March 10.

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Leading and Lagging Sectors
  In trading on Tuesday, industrials shares were relative leaders, up on the day by about 1.61 percent. Top gainers in the sector included Plug Power (NASDAQ: PLUG) and Maxwell Technologies (NASDAQ: MXWL).

Top 10 Promising Companies To Invest In Right Now: Cerus Corporation(CERS)

Cerus Corporation, a biomedical products company, engages in the development and commercialization of the INTERCEPT Blood System. The company?s INTERCEPT system is designed to inactivate blood-borne pathogens in donated blood components intended for transfusion. It markets the INTERCEPT system for platelets and plasma primarily in Europe, the Russian Federation, and the Middle East. The company is also developing INTERCEPT Blood System for red blood cells or red blood cell system, which is designed to inactivate blood-borne pathogens in donated red blood cells for transfusion. Cerus Corporation has collaboration agreements with Baxter International, Inc.; and BioOne Corporation, as well as the United States Armed Forces. The company was founded in 1991 and is based in Concord, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Cerus (Nasdaq: CERS  ) is expected to report Q1 earnings on April 30. Here's what Wall Street wants to see:

  The 10-second takeaway
  Comparing the upcoming quarter to the prior-year quarter, average analyst estimates predict Cerus's revenues will expand 15.0% and EPS will remain in the red.

Top 10 Promising Companies To Invest In Right Now: Konica Minolta Inc (KNCAY)

Konica Minolta Holdings Inc. is a Japanese manufacturer. The Company's operating segments include Business Technologies, engaged in the manufacture of copy machines and printers; Optics, engaged in the production of optical devices and electronic materials, Photo Imaging, manufacturing photographic film and materials, ink-jet products and cameras, Medical and Graphic Imaging, engaged in the production of x-ray or graphic film and equipment for medical or graphic use, and Sensing, engaged in the manufacture of industrial or medical measurement instruments. The Others segment is engaged in the provision of business support services, the warehouse and delivery businesses, the management of real estate, the construction of facilities, the development of systems and the manufacture, sale and installation of planetariums, among others.

In March 2006, a portion of the camera production assets related to the development, design and production of digital single lens reflex (SLR) cameras was transferred to Sony Corporation. As a result, the Company ceased camera-related operations at the end of March 2006. In addition, minilab business activities were also discontinued in March 2006.

The Company competes with Canon, Xerox, Ricoh and HP.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Victor Selva]

  As we can see, the firm has a higher ROE than it peers: Ricoh Ltd. (RICOY), Konica Minolta Inc. (KNCAY), Canon�Inc. (CAJ); but is lower than the one registered by Pitney Bowes (PBI).

Top 10 Promising Companies To Invest In Right Now: Rochester Medical Corporation(ROCM)

Rochester Medical Corporation engages in the development, manufacture, and marketing of PVC-free and latex-free urinary continence and urine drainage care products for the home and acute care markets. Its home care products include a line of silicone and latex male external catheters for managing male urinary incontinence; intermittent catheters for managing both male and female urinary retention, including Magic 3 line of silicone intermittent catheters; and the FemSoft Insert, a soft, liquid-filled, urethral insert for managing stress urinary incontinence in adult females. The company manufactures male external catheters in six models, including UltraFlex, Pop-On, Wide Band, Natural, Clear Advantage, and Transfix catheters; and intermittent catheters in four versions that include standard, antibacterial, hydrophilic, and antibacterial personal catheters. Its acute care products include a line of standard Foley catheters and Strata brand of Foley catheters; and Strata-NF Catheter, an antibacterial Foley catheter that reduces the incidence of hospital acquired urinary tract infection. The company?s primary customers include distributors, extended care facilities, and individual hospitals and healthcare institutions. It markets its products under the Rochester Medical brand name through a direct sales force in the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands, as well as through independent distributors in other international markets. The company also supplies its products to various medical product companies for sale under private label brands owned by these companies. Rochester Medical Corporation was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in Stewartville, Minnesota.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Back in February, my colleague David Englander noted that a potential buyout was one reason to buy shares of Rochester Medical (ROCM). Today, Rochester agreed to be purchased by CR Bard (BCR) for $262 million.

10 Best Shipping Stocks To Buy Right Now

FedEx�(FDX) shares are flying this morning after the shipping company reported earnings this morning. The Wall Street Journal has the details:

Getty Images

For the quarter ended Aug. 31, FedEx reported a profit of $489 million, or $1.53 a share, up from $459 million, or $1.45 a share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 2.1% to $11.02 billion. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had projected a per-share profit of $1.50 and revenue of $10.97 billion…

The company backed its full-year earnings projection.

Citigroup’s Christian Wetherbee explains why he likes the results:

We view F1Q14 results positively as Express posted YoY improvement in operating profit and operating margin despite facing a fuel surcharge headwind , which we estimated to be ~$36m. This YoY growth comes as a result on lower pension expense and aircraft maintenance and should be improved upon in coming quarters as more cost savings initiatives in Express take hold. Looking at full year run rate profitability in Express, typical seasonality (22% of annual EBIT comes in F1Q) suggests that Express is trending toward $1.24b excluding fuel headwinds, which is in line with the better than expected results posted in F4Q13 adding a level of consistency to the improvement. We reiterate our Buy.

Top Forestry Companies To Buy For 2016: Tsakos Energy Navigation Ltd(TNP)

Tsakos Energy Navigation Limited, together with its subsidiaries, provides seaborne crude oil and petroleum product transportation services worldwide. The company offers marine transportation services for national and independent oil companies and refiners under long, medium, and short-term charters. As of August 16, 2011, its fleet consisted of 50 vessels comprising 59 tankers, including 2 dynamic positioning 2 (DP2) shuttle tankers under construction, and 1 liquefied natural gas carrier. The company was formerly known as MIF Limited and changed its name to Tsakos Energy Navigation Limited in July 2001. Tsakos Energy Navigation Limited was founded in 1993 and is based in Athens, Greece.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Laura Brodbeck]

  Friday

  Earnings Expected From: Tsakos Energy Navigation (NYSE: TNP) Economic Releases Expected: Japanese industrial production, French GDP, Italian trade balance, Hong Kong GDP, US building permits, US housing starts

  Posted-In: Federal Reserve UkraineEarnings News Guidance Previews Pre-Market Outlook Markets Trading Ideas Best of Benzinga

10 Best Shipping Stocks To Buy Right Now: Huron Consulting Group Inc.(HURN)

Huron Consulting Group Inc. provides operational and financial consulting services in the United States. Its Health and Education Consulting segment develops and implements solutions to help clients address financial management, strategy, operational and organizational effectiveness, research administration, and regulatory compliance; and offers consulting services related to organization performance improvement, revenue cycle improvement, turnarounds, merger or affiliation strategies, labor productivity, non-labor cost management, information technology, patient flow improvement, physician practice management, interim management, clinical quality and medical management, and governance and board development to hospitals, health systems, physicians, managed care organizations, academic medical centers, colleges, universities, and pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers. The company?s Legal Consulting segment provides strategic and management consulting, cost managem ent, and technology and information management, including matter management, records, document review, and discovery services to assist law departments and law firms. This segment also offers V3locity solution, which delivers streamlined e-discovery process; and IMPACT solution that delivers sustainable cost reductions. Its Financial Consulting segment assists corporations with accounting and financial reporting matters, and provides financial analysis in restructuring and turnaround situations, as well as consults with companies in the areas of corporate governance, Sarbanes Oxley compliance, and internal audit. Huron Consulting Group Inc. serves various industries, including healthcare, education, professional services, pharmaceutical, technology, transportation services, telecommunications, financial services, electronics, consumer products, governmental, energy and utilities, and industrial manufacturing. The company was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in Chicago, I llinois.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Benjamin Shepherd] The US health care industry is among the heaviest regulated in the nation. Most health care-related companies must answer to federal, state and, in many cases, local regulators.
  
  That regulatory burden will only grow more complex, as myriad new rules under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or “Obamacare,” come into effect over the next few months. In just 22 days, the first insurance exchanges are supposed to come online. On January 1, the individual mandate and changes in coverage standards become effective.
  
  Many health care businesses and organizations were dragging their feet in complying with Obamacare’s provisions, waiting to see how the Supreme Court would come down on the law. The court didn’t rule on Obamacare until June 2012, a decision in which it upheld the law almost in its entirety.
  
  Given that delayed decision, a study conducted by the Government Accountability Office this past June found that only 44 percent of key activities required for full compliance had been completed, particularly where health insurance exchanges were concerned.
  
  As a result, there’s a massive scramble underway to achieve minimum compliance levels with the law. But there’s a paucity of workers with the requisite knowledge of federal and insurance regulations required to help companies and state governments navigate the labyrinth of regulations.
  
  That’s creating a lot of work for consultancies such as Huron Consulting Group (NSDQ: HURN), which focuses almost exclusively on the health care sector.
  
  While the company also works in the legal, financial, education and life sciences arenas, it primarily helps hospitals, health systems and physician groups reduce costs, maximize reimbursements from both federal and private insurers and transition towards the value-based care mandated under Obamacare. In future years, reimbursements will transition towards rewarding health care organizations tha

10 Best Shipping Stocks To Buy Right Now: Cadus Corp (KDUS)

Cadus Corporation (Cadus), incorporated in January 23, 1992, has a wholly owned subsidiary, Cadus Technologies, Inc. (the Subsidiary), which holds all patents, patent applications, know how, licenses and drug discovery technologies of the Company. The Company maintains all its strains, as well as a biological database that catalogues its collection of cells, cell lines, yeast strains and genetic engineering tools. This database has approximately 30,000 entries, which include the phenotype and the genotype of the cell or yeast strain and its storage site. As of December 31, 2011, the Company had no internal or external drug discovery operations.

Yeast

The Company has developed technologies based on yeast that are useful in identifying drug discovery candidates targeted at G Protein-coupled receptors. Yeast is a single-celled microorganism that is used to make bread, beer and wine. Both yeast and human cells consist of a membrane, an intracellular region and a nucleus containing genes. The genes in yeast express proteins, including cell-surface receptors, such as G Protein-coupled receptors and signaling molecules, such as protein kinases, that are similar to human proteins.

Hybrid Yeast Cells

The Company developed a technology to insert human genes into yeast cells to create hybrid yeast cells. Its scientists created hybrid yeast cells by replacing yeast G Protein-coupled receptor genes and certain signaling molecules with their human equivalents. As a result, these hybrid yeast cells express a human G Protein-coupled receptor and a portion of its signaling pathway. These hybrid yeast cells can be used to identify those compounds that act as agonists or antagonists to that receptor or a molecule that is in its signaling pathway. The Company designed and developed more than 25 thousand genetically different yeast strains that can be used to build hybrid yeast cells (the Yeast System).

The Company competes with Glaxo Smith Kline, Plc.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Geoff Gannon] cash producing business like ADDvantage (AEY) that happens to be overcapitalized. I'd much rather own a business with real earnings rather than wait for something to happen with a pile of cash.

  My question is this: How cheap is cheap enough? Clearly (to me), George Risk (RSKIA) is cheap at or even just above book value. It's a darn good business so I'm getting high quality assets and earnings power. That gets less clear when looking at lower quality businesses.

  For example:

  Solitron (SODI) sells at 74% of NCAV, has decent z- and f-scores, a FCF margin of 5.3% and an ROA of 12%.

10 Best Shipping Stocks To Buy Right Now: Colgate-Palmolive Company(CL)

Colgate-Palmolive Company, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and markets consumer products worldwide. It offers oral care products, including toothpaste, toothbrushes, and mouth rinses, as well as dental floss and pharmaceutical products for dentists and other oral health professionals; personal care products, such as liquid hand soap, shower gels, bar soaps, deodorants, antiperspirants, shampoos, and conditioners; and home care products comprising laundry and dishwashing detergents, fabric conditioners, household cleaners, bleaches, dishwashing liquids, and oil soaps. The company offers its oral, personal, and home care products under the Colgate Total, Colgate Max Fresh, Colgate 360 Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Eric Volkman]

  It's one of the steadiest dividend payers on the market, and it's continuing to fly level. Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE: CL  ) has declared a fresh quarterly common stock dividend, which is to be $0.34 per share, paid on August 15 to shareholders of record as of July 23. That amount matches the firm's previous distribution; this was paid in May. Prior to that, Colgate-Palmolive handed out $0.31 per share.

10 Best Shipping Stocks To Buy Right Now: Brazilian Real(BK)

The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation, a financial services company, provides various products and services worldwide. The company offers a range of equity, fixed income, cash, and alternative/overlay products, as well as distributes investment management products. It also provides investment management, wealth and estate planning, and private banking solutions to high-net-worth individuals and families, charitable gift programs, endowments and foundations, and related entities, as well as offers mutual funds, separate accounts, and annuities. In addition, the company provides global custody and fund, securities lending, investment manager outsourcing, performance and risk analytics, alternative investment, securities clearance, collateral management, corporate trust, broker-dealer, and employee investment plan services, as well as clearing services and global payment/working capital solutions to institutional clients. Further, it offers American and global depositary re ceipt programs, cash management solutions, payment services, liquidity services, foreign exchange, global clearing and execution, managed account services, and global prime brokerage solutions to corporations, public funds, government agencies, foundations, and endowments; global financial institutions, including banks, broker-dealers, asset managers, insurance companies and central banks; and financial intermediaries, independent registered investment advisors, and hedge fund managers. Additionally, the company provides credit-related services, and global markets and institutional banking services; engages in business exits, and corporate treasury activities; and leases financing portfolios. The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation was founded in 1784 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Shauna O'Brien]

  Before Friday’s opening bell, The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (BK) released its third quarter financial results, which came in higher from last year and beat analysts’ estimates.

  BK’s Earnings in Brief

  BK reported Q3 net income of $1.07 billion, or 93 cents per share, up from $962 million, or 82 cents per share a year ago. Excluding special items, earnings were $734 million, or 64 cents per share, from $713 million, or 61 cents per share in the year prior. Analysts expected to see adjusted EPS of 61 cents. Revenue rose to $4.611 billion, from $3.783 billion last year. Analysts expected the company to report revenue of $3.98 billion.

  CEO Commentary

  BK’s Chairman and CEO Gerald L. Hassell noted: “We grew Investment Management and Investment Services fees, controlled expenses and executed on our capital plan. During the quarter, we also repositioned the Markets Group, which will improve our operating margin and return on capital. We achieved this despite a challenging environment, demonstrating the resilience of our business model and the exceptional efforts of our employees.”

  BK’s Dividend�

  The bank paid its last 17 cent dividend on August 8. We expect the company to declare its next dividend sometime in October.

  BK Dividend Snapshot

  As of market close on October 16, 2014

  
  

  Click here to see the complete history of BK dividends.

  The Bank of New York Mellon shares were mostly flat during premarket trading Friday. The stock is up 3.49% YTD.

• [By Anders Bylund]

  When it comes to common equity as a ratio of total assets, the news becomes a bit gloomier. The Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE: BK  ) falls below the 4.5% target level with a 3.5% performance, and the other banks also skim a bit closer to the ground. This is where you measure the risk of overstretching your balance sheet, as applied to the company's investors. Citigroup (NYSE: C  ) runs away with this trophy, and it should come as no surprise that Citi's shares jumped nearly 2% this morning. The bank aced a crucial exam here.

• [By Rich Smith]

  According to the FDIC's figures, JPMorgan boasts a 36.9% market share in the state of New York. That's more than four times the share of the state's No. 2 bank, Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE: BK  ) .

10 Best Shipping Stocks To Buy Right Now: Victory Electronic Cigarettes Corp (ECIG)

Victory Electronic Cigarettes Corporation, formerly Teckmine Industries, Inc., incorporated on May 19, 2004, is a development-stage company. As of December 31, 2011, the Company was seeking opportunities with established business entities for the merger or other form of business combination with its company. In April 2013, it acquired Victory Electronic Cigarettes LLC.

The Company may acquire assets and establish wholly owned subsidiaries in various businesses or acquire existing businesses as subsidiaries. As of December 31, 2011, it had not owned any property interests.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Udovich]

  While there is a�new ��tudy��out claiming�that�electronic cigarettes, or so-called e-cigarettes or e-cigs, may contain a comparable level of carcinogens to regular cigarettes,�speculative investors might still want to take a look at�small cap electronic cigarette stocks like�Hop-on, Inc (OTCMKTS: HPNN), Smokefree Innotec (OTCMKTS: SFIO), Vapor Corp (OTCMKTS: VPCO) and Victory Electronic Cigarettes Corp (OTCMKTS: ECIG) as these appear to be the major publicly traded small cap stocks left in the sector. I should note that�all of the�major big tobacco stocks have entered the electronic cigarette market (see Who Are the Big Tobacco Electronic Cigarette Stocks? MO, LO & RAI) through acquisitions or their own R&D initiatives, which might�mean�that an acquisition by big tobacco is off the table as an�exit strategy for investors. �Moreover and as I previously noted, there are concerns about the safety of electronic cigarettes as their popularity grows�while the Wall Street Journal recently reported that the FDA has been in discussions with the e-cigarette industry about a possible online-sales ban of the product.

• [By Rupert Hargreaves]

  As it turns out, many e-cig start-ups and even tobacco industry giant Lorillard (NYSE: LO  ) �have infringed on these patents, possibly due to their rush getting e-cig products to market. So, six months on from closing the deal with Dragonite, Fontem Ventures, backed by Imperial Tobacco, has filed nine lawsuits in a federal court, asking the court to rule that the patents infringed were valid, and the defendants should pay as-of-yet unspecified damages. The companies Imperial is taking to court are Lorillard, NJOY, Vapor Corp., VMR Products LLC, Ballantyne Brands LLC, CB Distributors, Spark Industries LLC, Logic Technology Development LLC, FIN Branding Group LLC, Victory Electronic Cigarettes Corp. (NASDAQOTH: ECIG  ) , and DR Distributors LLC. So, it would seem as if Imperial is intending to kill off the majority of its competition before many of them can even get much of a foothold in the market.

• [By James E. Brumley]

  Fans and investors of American Heritage International Inc. (OTCBB:AHII) - not to mention frenemies Vapor Corp. (OTCMKTS:VPCO) and Victory Electronic Cigarettes Corp. (OTCMKTS:ECIG) - can all breathe a sigh of relief today. As it turns out, while the electronic cigarette industry is more than likely be regulated by the FDA, it's going to be regulated in such a way that tends to favor the likes of AHII, ECIG, and VPCO.

• [By John Udovich]

  After marijuana, the electronic cigarette sector and e-Cig stocks or industry players�like�Reynolds American, Inc (NYSE: RAI), mCig Inc (OTCBB: MCIG), Victory Electronic Cigarettes Corp (OTCMKTS: ECIG) and American Heritage International Inc (OTCBB: AHII) is looking like the next hot niche sector for investors. However, electronic cigarette stock investors should be aware of the following�recent good and bad news from the sector that needs to be digested:

10 Best Shipping Stocks To Buy Right Now: Alliance Data Systems Corporation (ADS)

Alliance Data Systems Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides data-driven and transaction-based marketing, and customer loyalty solutions primarily in the United States and Canada. The company operates in three segments: LoyaltyOne, Epsilon, and Private Label Services and Credit. The LoyaltyOne segment includes AIR MILES Reward Program that enables consumers to earn AIR MILES reward miles as they shop within a range of retailers and other sponsors participating in the AIR MILES Reward Program; and offers loyalty services, including loyalty consulting, customer analytics, and creative services. The Epsilon segment provides integrated direct marketing solutions, which combine database marketing technology and analytics with a range of direct marketing services comprising email marketing campaigns. This segment's products and services consist of marketing database services, analytical services, strategic consulting and creative services, proprietary data service s, and digital communications. The Private Label Services and Credit segment encompasses credit card processing, billing and payment processing, customer care and collections services for private label retailers, as well as private label retail credit card receivables financing, including securitization of the credit card receivables that it underwrites from its private label retail credit card programs. The company serves financial services, specialty retail, grocery and drugstore chains, petroleum retail, technology, hospitality and travel, media, and pharmaceuticals end markets. Alliance Data Systems Corporation was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Plano, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By James O'Toole]

  S&P also announced Wednesday that clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) and communication technology firm JDS Uniphase Corp. (JDSU) will be leaving the index, to be replaced by Alliance Data Systems (ADS) and floor-covering producer Mohawk Industries (MHK, Fortune 500).

• [By Sue Chang and Ben Eisen]

  Alliance Data Systems Inc. (ADS) �shares gained 9.3%. The operator of loyalty programs and private-label credit cards reported core earnings of $2.39 in the fourth quarter versus analysts��estimate of $2.33 a share.

• [By Monica Gerson]

  Breaking news

  Whirlpool (NYSE: WHR) reported a strong rise in its third-quarter earnings. For the year, Whirlpool lifted its earnings forecast to $9.90 to $10.10 per share, versus its July outlook of $9.50 to $10 per share. To read the full news, click here. Questcor Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: QCOR) announced today that it will commence a Phase 2 study to explore the efficacy and safety of H.P. Acthar庐 Gel (repository corticotropin injection) for Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS). To read the full news, click here. Centene (NYSE: CNC) reported a stronger-than-expected third-quarter profit. Centene's quarterly net earnings surged to $49.4 million, or $0.87 per share, up from $3.8 million, or $0.07 per share, in the year-ago period. To read the full news, click here. Dwolla and Alliance Data Systems (NYSE: ADS) today announced they have signed a new, multi-year agreement for Alliance Data's Retail Services business to provide a cardless private label credit product for the Dwolla payment network. To read the full news, click here.

  Posted-In: Morgan Stanley US Stock FuturesNews Eurozone Futures Global Pre-Market Outlook Markets

Top 10 Shipping Companies To Buy Right Now

A rebound in Japanese stocks was limited by falling carmakers and shipping lines as price swings continued near a two-year high. The market�� plunge yesterday extended its drop to more than 10 percent since last week.

Shipping companies dropped the most among the Topix index�� 33 industry groups today, with Mitsui O.S.K Lines Ltd. falling 4.2 percent. Honda Motor Co. sank 1.2 percent as the yen strengthened. Fast Retailing Co. climbed 5.1 percent, clawing back about a half of yesterday�� loss. Sony Corp. (6758) increased 2.1 percent after people familiar with the matter said the electronics maker is consulting banks about a proposal to take part of its entertainment unit public.

The Topix added 0.1 percent to close at 1,135.78 in Tokyo after yesterday dropping 3.8 percent. Historical volatility on the gauge was near the highest since the March 2011 disaster. Share rose as much as 2 percent in the morning session as weaker-than-expected U.S. data bolstered the case for continued Federal Reserve stimulus.

Top 10 Mid Cap Companies To Own For 2016: Guggenheim CurrencyShares Australian Dollar Trust (FXA)

Guggenheim CurrencyShares Australian Dollar Trust, formerly The CurrencyShares Australian Dollar Trust, is a grantor trust. The Trust issues shares (the Shares) in blocks of 50,000 (a Basket) in exchange for deposits of Australian Dollars and distributes Australian Dollars in connection with the redemption of Baskets. The investment objective of the Trust is for the Shares to reflect the price of Australian Dollars plus accrued interest, if any, less the expenses of the Trust�� operations. The Shares are intended to offer investors an opportunity to participate in the market for the Australian Dollar through an investment in securities. The Shares are bought and sold on New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Arca like any other exchange-listed security.

The Trust holds Australian Dollars and, from time to time, issues Baskets in exchange for deposits of Australian Dollars and distributes Australian Dollars in connection with redemptions of Baskets. The Sponsor of the Trust oversees the performance of the Trustee and the Trust�� principal service providers. The Sponsor is Rydex Specialized Products LLC. The Sponsor is responsible for payment of administrative and marketing expenses. The Bank of New York Mellon serves as the Trustee. The Trustee is responsible for the day-to-day administration of the Trust, including keeping the Trust�� operational records. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., London Branch is the Depository.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Fede Zaldua]

  The easiest way to go short Australia's currency and long the US dollar is through selling Australian dollar's ETF, the Currency Shares Australian Dollar Trust (FXA), which is still held by John Keeley. Even when the ETF is down by 15% since 2013 started, I believe there is still significant downside potential for the currency.

Top 10 Shipping Companies To Buy Right Now: Sibanye Gold Ltd (SBGL)

Sibanye Gold Limited (Sibanye Gold), formerly GFI Mining South Africa (Pty) Limited, incorporated on December 12, 2002, is a producer of gold in South Africa. Sibanye Gold is primarily engaged in underground and surface gold mining and related activities, including extraction, and processing. Sibanye Gold�� operations are located in South Africa. Its principal mining operations include Kloof-Driefontein Complex (KDC) and Beatrix. Exploration activities are focused on the extension of existing ore bodies and identification of new ore bodies at existing sites. As of January 10, 2013, Sibanye Gold mined only gold, with silver as a by-product.

KDC Operation

The KDC mine is located in the Gauteng Province of South Africa in the Far West Rand mining district, some 60 kilometers southwest of Johannesburg. KDC consists of the Driefontein and Kloof mines. As of January 10, 2013, KDC is consisted of 13 producing shaft systems that mine different contributions from pillars and open ground and five gold plants of which two process mainly underground ore and three process mainly surface material. Driefontein is situated some 70 kilometers west of Johannesburg. Kloof is situated in the Magisterial District of Westonaria, some 60 kilometers west of Johannesburg.

Beatrix Operation

The Beatrix operation is located in the Free State Province of South Africa, some 240 kilometers southwest of Johannesburg, near Welkom and Virginia, and consists of the Beatrix mine. Beatrix operates under mining rights covering a total area of approximately 16 800 hectares. As of January 10, 2013, Beatrix had four shaft systems, with five ventilation shafts to provide additional up-cast and down-cast ventilation capacity and is serviced by two metallurgical plants. It is a shallow to intermediate-depth mining operation, at depths between 700 meters and 2 200 meters below surface. The mine has a refrigeration and cooling infrastructure in both its North and West Sections. Beatrix is man! aged as three operational sections: the North Section (consists of Shaft No. 3), the South Section (consists of Shaft No. 2 and Shaft No. 1) and the West Section (consists of Shaft No. 4).

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lisa Levin]

  Gold: This industry rose 0.65% by 10:25 am ET. The top performer in this industry was Sibanye Gold (NYSE: SBGL), which gained 4.9%. Gold futures fell 0.17% to trade at $1,216.70 an ounce.

• [By Lisa Levin]

  Gold: This industry jumped 1.20% by 11:40 am. The top performer in this industry was Sibanye Gold (NYSE: SBGL), which rose 3.2%. Gold futures gained 0.44% to trade at $1,281.00 an ounce.

Top 10 Shipping Companies To Buy Right Now: Imperial Oil Limited(IMO)

Imperial Oil Limited engages in the exploration, production, and sale of crude oil and natural gas in Canada. The company operates through three segments: Upstream, Downstream, and Chemical. The Upstream segment engages in the exploration and production of conventional crude oil, natural gas, synthetic oil, and bitumen primarily in the Western Provinces, the Canada Lands, and the Atlantic Offshore. Its primary conventional oil producing asset includes the Norman Wells oil field in the Northwest Territories. The Downstream segment engages in the transportation and refining of crude oil, as well as blending, distribution, and marketing of refined products. It owns and operates crude oil, and natural gas liquids and products pipelines in Alberta, Manitoba, and Ontario. The Chemical segment engages in the manufacture and marketing of various petrochemicals, including ethylene, benzene, aromatic and aliphatic solvents, plasticizer intermediates, and polyethylene resin. As of De cember 31, 2010, Imperial Oil Limited had 1,204 million oil-equivalent barrels of proved undeveloped reserves; maintained a nation-wide distribution system, including 24 primary terminals, to handle bulk and packaged petroleum products moving from refineries to market by pipeline, tanker, rail, and road transport; and sold petroleum products through 1,850 Esso retail service stations, of which approximately 510 were company owned or leased. The company was founded in 1880 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada. Imperial Oil Limited operates as a subsidiary of Exxon Mobil Corporation.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Stephan Dube]

  Cold Lake's most notable producers:

  Husky Energy (HUSK.PK), see article here.Pengrowth Energy Corporation (PGH), see article here.Southern Pacific Resource (STPJF.PK), see article here.Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ), see article here.Devon Energy (DVN), see article here.Imperial Oil (IMO), see article here.Baytex, see article here.Bonavista Energy (BNPUF.PK), see article here.

  Athabasca's most notable producers:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  We downgrade ExxonMobil to Underweight from Equal Weight primarily due to its relative valuation. The shares are currently trading at a 9% premium to its NAV compared to the group average discount of 17%. Although we have modestly increased our price target to $105 from $100 and set it above its NAV estimate to give credit to the company�� seemingly conservative non-proved resource estimate, we believe the potential upside is limited compared to other names in our coverage. We think the stock will continue to face relative headwinds concerning the lack of meaningful near-term production growth and our belief of a relatively steady high oil price environment. We recommend switching from ExxonMobil to ConocoPhillips, Imperial Oil (IMO), or Suncor. That said, ExxonMobil will likely outperform the group in the event of any unexpected significant negative macro developments given its long held ��afe haven��status.

• [By Caiman Valores]

  But as highlighted earlier Whitecap's Canadian light sweet crude is not as heavily discounted as Canadian heavy oil or bitumen. This does not leave it exposed to the same price risks and volatility as those companies that have a significant portion of their production made up by Canadian heavy oil and Bitumen, such as Husky Energy (HUSKF.PK), Suncor (SU), Imperial Oil (IMO) and Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ).

Top 10 Shipping Companies To Buy Right Now: Location Based Technologies Inc (LBAS)

Location Based Technologies, Inc. (LBT), incorporated on April 20, 2006, designs, develops, and sells personal, pet, and vehicle locator devices and services including PocketFinder People, PocketFinder Pets and PocketFinder Vehicles. The Company markets and sells consumer and commercial location devices and services. Its devices utilize Assisted Global Positioning System (A-GPS) and General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) technologies in conjunction with its technologies designed to enhance the families to interact and stay connected around the world. The Company is a developer of the PocketFinder family of products and the PocketFinder Network. The PocketFinder family of products includes the PocketFinder People, PocketFinder Vehicle, PocketFinder Pets, PocketFinder Luggage, PocketFinder Mobile and PocketFinder Fleet. The PocketFinder is a small location device that enables a user to locate a device, person, or pet, at anytime from almost anywhere. PocketFinder personal locator devices are wireless.

The Company generate revenue by selling its products and charging customers an ongoing service fee, for which it offers monthly and annual subscription plans. The Company�� product, PocketFinder, is a small, waterproof and wireless location device that enables users to locate anyone or anything they care about, from a computer or Web-enabled device. Its products deliver critical information to users, such as: device location, longitude, latitude, heading speed and 60 days of location history. This information can be viewed passively through a user�� account or can be sent to a user via email or push notification if the user sets an alert. The target markets for the PocketFinder include: young children, seniors, people with special needs and people who need to track valuable assets such as luggage or sporting equipment. In addition to the PocketFinder, it also sell the PocketFinder Pet and the PocketFinder Vehicle products. The PocketFinder Pet is designed for pets weighing 15 pounds or more,! and it markets the PocketFinder Vehicle to families with new drivers, car enthusiasts, motorcycle owners, watercraft owners and business fleets. The PocketFinder Vehicle attaches directly to a battery or fuse box, so it has a constant supply of power. All PocketFinder products operate on the same user interface, which enables its customers receive the same features, functionality and user-experience, regardless of which product they own. To access their account or locate their devices, users can logon to the Company�� Website at www.pocketfinder.com or use its native iPhone, iPad or Android Apps.

The Company�� products are sold through various brick-and-mortar and online retailers and through its Website. It provides customer service and support in the United States through existing call centers owned by Affinitas. It provides wireless location based solutions for global positioning products along with its friendly user interface software system. PocketFinder and PocketFinder Vehicle devices are being sold in the United States and in Canada through the Apple Online Store and Apple Retail Stores. PocketFinder devices for Pets are available for purchase on its Website.

The Company competes with Geospatial Platform Providers, Application Developers, Garmin�� GTU-10, Qualcomm�� Tagg, Lo-Jack, SpotLight, Fleetmatics, NetworkFleet, and Qualcomm.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By CRWE]

  Today, LBAS has shed (-7.69%) -0.010 at $.120 with 95,100 shares in play thus far (ref. google finance Delayed: 12:21PM EDT August 15, 2013).

  Location Based Technologies, Inc. previously reported it has signed a distribution agreement with Beijing Lava Technology Co. Ltd., an Apple approved distributor for its online, brick and mortar stores, and authorized distributors in Asia. The agreement is one of the final steps preceding the launch of LBT�� GPS products into the Asian markets. Beijing Lava Technology Co. Ltd. serves China, Singapore, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

  LBT estimates that it will begin selling its PocketFinder devices in Singapore through Apple�� online store and authorized distributors in the near future with other Asian countries to follow thereafter.

• [By CRWE]

  Today, LBAS�remains (0.00%) +0.000 at $.132 with 9,470 shares in movement thus far (ref. google finance Delayed: 9:47AM EDT June 20, 2013).

  Location Based Technologies, Inc. previously received FCC and IC certification for its versatile LBT-886 device. These certifications are necessary before devices can be sold to consumers throughout the US and Canada.

  The LBT-886 device is available for manufacture in a 2G or 3G variant. The 3G penta-band variant will enable the device to function in countries which only operate on the 3G spectrum, such as Australia, South Korea, Japan and some areas of Canada. This global tracking solution also delivers additional features such as various environmental sensors or comes with an attachment with special capability designed to meet lone-worker or personnel security requirements

• [By CRWE]

  Today, LBAS surged (+10.27%) up +0.015 at $.160 with�39,780 shares in play thus far (ref. google finance Delayed: 11:41AM EDT July 5, 2013).

  Location Based Technologies, Inc. and EE, Ltd., the U.K.�� most advanced communications company, have previously entered into a purchase agreement which will allow LBT to embed EE SIM technology into LBT�� world�� best GPS products for immediate purchase throughout Europe and in additional areas around the world.

  EE�� relationship with LBT continues to grow. The companies began their relationship earlier this year when EE launched PocketFinder Personal GPS Locators in their London flagship stores (https://explore.ee.co.uk/pocket-finder). With this latest agreement, LBT now has the capability to sell devices into Europe using a local SIM, thereby greatly reducing the monthly service fee charged to customers.

Top 10 Shipping Companies To Buy Right Now: iShares Short Treasury Bond ETF (SHV)

iShares Lehman Short Treasury Bond Fund (the Fund) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the short-term sector of the United States Treasury market as defined by the Lehman Brothers Short U.S. Treasury Index (the Index). The Index includes all publicly issued United States Treasury securities that have a remaining maturity of between 1 and 12 months, and have more than $250 million or more of outstanding face value. In addition, the securities must be denominated in United States dollars, and must be fixed-rate and non-convertible securities. Excluded from the Index are certain special issues, such as flower bonds, targeted investor notes, and state and local government series bonds (SLG5), and coupon issues that have been stripped from assets that are already included in the Index.

The Index is a market capitalization-weighted index. The Fund generally will invest at least 95% of its assets in the United States Government bonds. The Fund invests in a representative sample of the securities in the Index, which has a similar investment profile as the Index. The Fund�� investment advisor is Barclays Global Fund Advisor.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Donald van Deventer]

  Shorter-duration Treasury Exchange-Traded Funds: (SHY), (SHV), (IEI), (BIL), (TUZ), (FIVZ), (DTUL), (VGSH), (DTUS), (DFVS), (DFVL), (SST), (ISTB), (TBZ).

Top 10 Shipping Companies To Buy Right Now: Alliance Fiber Optic Products Inc.(AFOP)

Alliance Fiber Optic Products, Inc. engages in the design, manufacture, and marketing of a range of fiber optic components and integrated modules incorporating these components to communications equipment manufacturers and service providers in North America, Europe, and Asia. The company offers interconnect devices that are used to connect optical fibers and components; couplers and splitters that are used to divide and combine optical power; and dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) devices that separate and combine multiple specific wavelengths. Its connectivity products include connectivity modules; optical connectors, adapters, and cable assemblies; fused and planar fiber optical splitters and couplers; optical tap couplers and ultra low polarization dependent loss tap couplers; amplifier wave division multiplexing (WDM) couplers; optical fixed attenuators; and fused fiber WDM couplers. The company?s optical passive products comprise filter WDMs, amplifier fil ter WDMs, DWDMs, coarse WDMs, compact coarse WDMs, add/drop DWDM filters, optical isolators, optical bypass switches, and automatic variable optical attenuators. Its products are deployed in long-haul networks that connect cities; metropolitan networks that connect areas within cities; last mile access networks that connect to individual businesses and homes; and enterprise networks within businesses. The company sells its products to communications equipment manufacturers who incorporate its products into their systems and sell them to network service providers, as well as to other component manufacturers for resale or inclusion in their products. Alliance Fiber Optic Products, Inc. was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Monica Gerson]

  Alliance Fiber Optic Products (NASDAQ: AFOP) shares rose 7.21% to $21.70. The volume of Alliance Fiber Optic Products shares traded was 397% higher than normal. Alliance Fiber Optic lifted its Q3 revenue outlook.

• [By Alex Planes]

  What: Shares of Alliance Fiber Optic Products (NASDAQ: AFOP  ) have surged nearly 13% today after the company bested the Street's earnings consensus and offered strong guidance for the upcoming quarter.

Top 10 Shipping Companies To Buy Right Now: PDI Inc.(PDII)

PDI, Inc. provides outsourced promotional services to various companies in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and healthcare industries in the United States. The company?s services offer customers a range of both personal and non-personal promotional options for the commercialization of their products throughout the product lifecycles, from development through maturity. It operates in three segments: Sales Services, Marketing Services, and Product Commercialization Services. The Sales Services segment focuses primarily on product detailing, which includes a sales representative meeting face-to-face with targeted physicians and other healthcare decision makers to provide a technical review of the product being promoted; and offers a portfolio of expanded sales services consisting of talent acquisition services, short-term teams, and vacancy coverage services. The Marketing Services segment is involved in the creation, design, and implementation of interactive digital commu nications programs to the healthcare community through the Internet, multimedia, tablet PCs, mobile devices, and dimensional direct mail, as well as DIAGRAM, a proprietary software to deliver non-personal selling solutions via interactive communications exchanges that accommodate the schedules of healthcare providers. This segment also engages in the creation of teledetailing programs executed via tele-representatives. The Product Commercialization Services segment provides product commercialization solutions, including product detailing, full supply chain management, operations, sales, marketing, compliance, and regulatory/medical management to pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, and diagnostics clients. The company was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By CRWE]

  PDI, Inc. (Nasdaq:PDII) reported the signing of a contract with a new customer to provide promotional services across PDI’s multiple communications channels that will target primary care physicians.

Hot Paper Companies To Watch For 2015

Stacy Hanson was buying his wife a Valentine at a Salt Lake City card shop seven years ago when the shots rang out. There was no backroom, so customers hid under displays as the gunman entered the store. No one had a plan, so Hanson decided to try to talk to the gunman, who had already killed three people. He ended up shot three times and partially paralyzed from waist down.

News of the Saturday's shooting at a Columbia, Md, mall, brought back a flood of memories for survivors of previous mall shootings. Those include Hanson, who was one of four injured in a shooting spree that killed six others, including the gunman. Two employees of the Zumiez store at The Mall in Columbia were killed and the man police identified as the shooter, Darion Marcus Aguilar, then killed himself.

Hanson, a former advertising copy writer who was an avid outdoorsman, read about the Maryland shooting in his local newspaper, but didn't need it to remind him of his personal horror.

Best Semiconductor Companies For 2016: Resolute Forest Products Inc (RFP)

Resolute Forest Products Inc., AbitibiBowater Inc., is a global forest products company. The Company�� products include newsprint, commercial printing papers, market pulp and wood products. The Company owns or operates pulp and paper mills and wood products facilities in the United States, Canada and South Korea. On November 7, 2011, it began doing business as Resolute Forest Products. As of December 31, 2011, it owned or operated 18 pulp and paper mills and 23 wood products facilities in the United States, Canada and South Korea. The Company�� segments include newsprint, coated papers, specialty papers, market pulp and wood products. On January 14, 2011, it acquired the noncontrolling interest in Augusta Newsprint Company (ANC). In April 2012, the Company held approximately 48.8% of the outstanding shares of Fibrek Inc. In December 2012, the Company purchased Bowater Mersey Paper Company Limited. oklyn Power Corporation. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

  There's no foolproof way to know the future for Resolute Forest Products (NYSE: RFP  ) or any other company. However, certain clues may help you see potential stumbles before they happen -- and before your stock craters as a result.

• [By George Putnam]

  Resolute Forest Products (RFP), formerly known as AbitibiBowater, entered into bankruptcy in early 2009, weighed down by roughly $6 billion in debt.

• [By Saibus Research]

  Consolidation has been incremental in the paper and forest products industry. In May 2012, Resolute Forest Products (RFP) (formerly AbitibiBowater) announced that it had acquired 50.1% of Fibrek and acquired the remaining 49.9% in August. 2011 saw International Paper (IP) announce a hostile takeover of Temple-Inland and after offering $32/share in cash as well as the assumption of $600M of TIN's debt, IP was able to close the deal in February 2012. 2011 also saw Rock-Tenn (RKT) acquire Smurfit-Stone to create the number two player in the linerboard segment with 20% market share, trailing only International Paper's 40%. We see these moves as a prudent step to consolidation in the industry as certain types of paper such as newsprint and uncoated free sheet (office paper) are seeing falling demand due to increased use of digital resources.

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Calling all cash flows
  When you are trying to buy the market's best stocks, it's worth checking up on your companies' free cash flow once a quarter or so, to see whether it bears any relationship to the net income in the headlines. That's what we do with this series. Today, we're checking in on Resolute Forest Products (NYSE: RFP  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

Hot Paper Companies To Watch For 2015: Greif Inc (GEF)

Greif, Inc., incorporated on January 25, 1926, is a producer of industrial packaging products and services with manufacturing facilities located in over 50 countries. The Company offers a line of industrial packaging products, such as steel, fiber and plastic drums, rigid intermediate bulk containers, closure systems for industrial packaging products, transit protection products, water bottles and reconditioned containers, and services such as container lifecycle management, blending, filling and other packaging services, logistics and warehousing. It also produces containerboard and corrugated products for niche markets in North America. It sells timber to third parties from its timberland in the south-eastern United States. It has four segments: Rigid Industrial Packaging & Services, Flexible Products & Services, Paper Packaging and Land Management.

Rigid Industrial Packaging and Services

In the Rigid Industrial Packaging and Services, the Company is a provider of rigid industrial packaging products, including steel, fiber and plastic drums, rigid intermediate bulk containers, closure systems for industrial packaging products, transit protection products, water bottles and reconditioned containers, and services, such as container lifecycle management, blending, filling and other packaging services, logistics and warehousing. It sells industrial packaging products to customers in industries, such as chemicals, paints and pigments, food and beverage, petroleum, industrial coatings, agricultural, pharmaceutical and mineral, among others.

Flexible Products and Services segment

In the Flexible Products and Services segment, the Company is a producer of flexible intermediate bulk containers and a North American provider of industrial and consumer multiwall bag products. Its flexible intermediate bulk containers consist of a polypropylene-based woven fabric that is partly produced at its production sites, as well as sourced from strategic regional sup! pliers. Its industrial and consumer multiwall bag products are used to ship a range of industrial and consumer products, such as seed, fertilizers, chemicals, concrete, flour, sugar, feed, pet foods, popcorn, charcoal and salt, primarily for the agricultural, chemical, building products and food industries.

Paper Packaging segment

In the Paper Packaging segment, the Company sells containerboard, corrugated sheets and other corrugated products to customers in North America in industries such as packaging, automotive, food and building products. Its corrugated container products are used to ship such products as home appliances, small machinery, grocery products, building products, automotive components, books and furniture, as well as numerous other applications. Operations related to industrial and consumer multiwall bag products have been reclassified to Flexible Products and Services segment.

Land Management segment

In the Land Management segment, the Company is focused on the active harvesting and regeneration of the United States timber properties to achieve long-term yields. It also sells, from time to time, timberland and special use land, which consists of surplus land, HBU land and development land. As of October 31, 2013, it owned approximately 252,475 acres of timber property in the southeastern United States and approximately 10,300 acres of timber property in Canada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Geoff Gannon]

  For those of you wondering if Greif Brothers Cooperage has any relation to Greif (GEF) ��yes. It has every relation. It�� the same exact company. And it�� still in pretty much the same business. They used to just make barrels. Now they make all kinds of different drums, containers, etc. That�� not a very big change for a company to make over 60 years or so.

Hot Paper Companies To Watch For 2015: Weyerhaeuser Company(WY)

Weyerhaeuser Company, a forest products company, grows and harvests trees, builds homes, and manufactures forest products worldwide. It grows and harvests trees for use as lumber, other wood and building products, and pulp and paper. The company manages 6.4 million acres of private commercial forestland; and has long-term licenses on 13.9 million acres of forestland. It also offers timber; minerals, such as rock, sand, and gravel, as well as oil and gas to construction and energy markets; logs; timberland tracts; and seed and seedlings, poles, plywood, and hardwood lumber products. In addition, the company provides structural lumber products for structural framing; engineered lumber products for floor and roof joists, and headers and beams; structural panels for structural sheathing, subflooring, and stair treading for wood products dealers, do-it-yourself retailers, builders, and industrial users. Further, it offers building products comprising cedar, decking, siding, ins ulation, rebar, and engineered lumber connectors. Additionally, the company offers fluff pulp for use in sanitary disposable products; papergrade pulp for printing and writing papers, and tissues; specialty chemical cellulose pulp for use in textiles, absorbent products, specialty packaging, and high-bulking fibers; liquid packaging board converted into containers; and slush and wet lap pulp for manufacturing paper products. It also constructs single-family houses, as well as develops residential lots and land for construction and sale; and master-planned communities with mixed-use property. The company sells its cellulose fibers products through direct sales network, and liquid packaging products directly to carton and food product packaging converters; and wood products through sales organizations and distribution facilities. Weyerhaeuser Company has been elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust. The company was founded in 1900 and is headquartered in Federal Way, Washington.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jacob Roche]

  Weyerhaeuser� (NYSE: WY  ) and Plum Creek Timber (NYSE: PCL  ) have seen sales go up almost 20% in the past three years, and margins are strong. Weyerhaeuser and Plum Creek both get a significant amount of their business from the sale of whole logs, manufactured wood, and pulp, making them key suppliers to the increasing demand from different industries. Plum Creek is in a particularly good position, as much of its assets are in the eastern half of the United States, which has been less affected by the beetle.

• [By Dimitra DeFotis]

  In the homebuidling category:

  Weyerhaeuser (WY), the producer of lumber, was up nearly 3%. On Thursday, Citigroup Analyst Anthony Pettinari wrote that Weyerhaeuser could sell its homebuilder unit for between $2.5 billion and $3.5 billion, and interested buyers in the unit, WRECO, could include Lennar�(LEN), Toll Brothers (TOL) and Brookfield Residential Properties (BRP). About 67% of the Weyerhaeuser unit’s roughly 27,000 lots are in California. Citi has a Buy rating on Weyerhauser and a $35 price target. Lennar, the home builder, was�up 2.6%. Masco (MAS), the building materials maker, was�up 2%.� PulteGroup (PHM), the home builder, was�up 2%. DR Horton�(DHI), the home builder, was�up 1.9%.

  Among real estate trusts:

• [By Holly LaFon]

  Pimco managing director Mark Kiesel mentions Whirlpool (WHR), Weyerhaeuser (WY), USG (USG), Toll Brothers (TOLL) and KB Home (KBH) as good plays on housing:�

Hot Paper Companies To Watch For 2015: Crown Holdings Inc (CCK)

Crown Holdings, Inc., incorporated on February 7, 2003, is engaged in designing, manufacturing and sale of packaging products for consumer goods. Its business is organized within three divisions: Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific. Its segments within the Americas Division are Americas Beverage and North America Food. Its segments within the European Division are European Beverage and European Food. Americas Beverage includes beverage can operations in the United States, Brazil, Canada, Colombia and Mexico. North America Food includes food can and metal vacuum closure operations in the United States and Canada. European Beverage includes beverage can operations in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. European Food includes food can and metal vacuum closure operations in Europe and Africa. Its Asia Pacific Division consists of beverage and non-beverage can operations, primarily food cans and specialty packaging. As of December 31, 2012, it acquired Superior Multi-Packaging Ltd.

The Company supplies beverage cans and ends and other packaging products to a range of beverage and beer companies, including Anheuser-Busch InBev, Carlsberg, Coca-Cola, Cott Beverages, Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Heineken, National Beverage and Pepsi-Cola, among others. The Company manufactures a range of food cans and ends, including two-and three-piece cans in numerous shapes and sizes, and sells food cans to food marketers, such as Bonduelle, Cecab, ConAgra, Continentale, Mars, Simmons Foods, Nestle, Princes Group and Stockmeyer, among others.

The Company offers a range of metal vacuum closures and sealing equipment. The Company�� customers for aerosol cans and ends include manufacturers of personal care, food, household and industrial products, including Colgate Palmolive, Procter & Gamble, SC Johnson and Unilever, among others. The Company�� customers for aerosol cans and ends include manufacturers of personal care, food, household and industrial products, including Colgate Palmolive, Procte! r & Gamble, SC Johnson and Unilever, among others.

Americas Division

The Americas Division includes operations in the United States, Brazil, Canada, the Caribbean, Colombia and Mexico. These operations manufacture beverage, food and aerosol cans and ends, specialty packaging and metal vacuum closures and caps. The Americas Beverage segment manufactures aluminum beverage cans and ends and steel crowns, referred to as bottle caps. The North America Food segment manufactures steel and aluminum food cans and ends and metal vacuum closures.

European Division

The European Division includes operations in Eastern and Western Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. These operations manufacture beverage, food and aerosol cans and ends, specialty packaging and metal vacuum closures and caps. The European Beverage segment manufactures steel and aluminum beverage cans and ends. The European Food segment manufactures steel and aluminum food cans and ends, and metal vacuum closures.

Asia Pacific division

The Company's Asia Pacific Division consists of beverage can operations in Cambodia, China, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam and non-beverage can operations, primarily including food cans and specialty packaging in China, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. As of December 31, 2012, the division operated 32 plants in six countries.

The Company competes with Ardagh Group, Ball Corporation, BWAY Corporation, Can-Pack S.A., Metal Container Corporation, Mivisa Envases S.A.U., Rexam PLC and Silgan Holdings Inc.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lauren Pollock]

  Crown Holdings Inc.(CCK) cut its third-quarter earnings guidance on lower end-user demand in some of the food-and-beverage packaging company’s markets, including European food cans and North American beverage cans.

Hot Paper Companies To Watch For 2015: Cornerstone Progressive Return Fund(CFP)

Cornerstone Progressive Return Fund is a closed-ended equity fund of fund launched and managed by Cornerstone Advisors, Inc. The fund invests funds investing in the public equity markets of the United States. It invests in stocks of companies operating across diversified sectors. Cornerstone Progressive Return Fund was formed on April 26, 2007 and is domiciled in the United States.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  But you can see in several places the consequences of the stampede toward high yield. Here are just a few:

  Closed-end funds Cornerstone Progressive (NYSEMKT: CFP  ) and Pimco High Income (NYSE: PHK  ) both make fixed payments back to fund shareholders on a monthly basis, and their distribution yields are truly extraordinary, at about 17% and 12%, respectively. Those dividends have enticed shareholders to pay $1.30 to $1.40 or more for each $1 of assets in the funds. Yet during most months, a substantial portion of those distribution payments has simply been a return of investor capital rather than true income from the funds' investments. A recent study discussed in The Wall Street Journal found that returns on a portfolio with a combined value and dividend-income strategy outperformed a strategy focused more exclusively on maximizing dividends by an average of 1.7 percentage points per year, a huge edge in long-run returns. In the dividend ETF arena, most funds tend to focus on maximizing yield. Although the popular Vanguard Dividend Appreciation (NYSEMKT: VIG  ) ETF bucks the trend by screening first for consistent dividend growth and only then looking at yield as a factor, many rival ETFs start with high-yielding stocks as their baseline and only then consider other desirable traits. Others focus solely on high-dividend niches of the market, such as iShares FTSE NAREIT Mortgage-Plus (NYSEMKT: REM  ) and its concentration on high-yield mortgage REITs.

  When dividend stocks get too popular, their prices get out of line with both their dividend income and the fundamentals of the businesses that underlie those stocks. In simpler terms, when dividend stocks become bad values, it's time to consider looking elsewhere for a margin of safety.

Hot Paper Companies To Watch For 2015: International Paper Co (IP)

International Paper Company (International Paper), incorporated on June 23, 1941, is a global paper and packaging company, with primary markets and manufacturing operations in North America, Europe, Latin America, Russia, Asia and North Africa. The Company operates in four segments: Industrial Packaging, Printing Papers, Consumer Packaging and Distribution. As of December 31, 2012, in the United States, the Company operated 28 pulp, paper and packaging mills, 187 converting and packaging plants, 18 recycling plants and three bag facilities. Production facilities as of December 31, 2012 in Europe, Asia, Latin America and South America included 11 pulp, paper and packaging mills, 65 converting and packaging plants, and two recycling plants. It distribute printing, packaging, graphic arts, maintenance and industrial products principally through over 88 distribution branches in the United States and 32 distribution branches located in Canada, Mexico and Asia. As of December 31, 2012, it owned or managed approximately 327,000 acres of forestland in Brazil and had, through licenses and forest management agreements, harvesting rights on government-owned forestlands in Russia. On July 2, 2012, it sold Ontario and Oxnard (Hueneme), California containerboard mills to New-Indy Containerboard LLC, and its New Johnsonville, Tennessee containerboard mill to Hood Container Corporation. On January 3, 2013, it acquired joint venture partner, Sabanci Holding.

Industrial Packaging

International Paper is a manufacturer of containerboard in the United States. Its production capacity is about 14 million tons annually. The Company�� products include linerboard, medium, whitetop, recycled linerboard, recycled medium and saturating kraft. About 80% of its production is converted domestically into corrugated boxes and other packaging by its 178 United States container plants. In addition, it recycles approximately one million tons of old corrugated containers (OCC) and mixed and white paper through ! our 20 recycling plants. In Europe, our operations include one recycled fiber containerboard mill in Morocco and 20 container plants in France, Italy, Spain, and Morocco. In Asia, its operations include 19 container plants in China and additional container plants in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. Its container plants are supported by regional design centers, which offer total packaging solutions and supply chain initiatives.

Printing Papers

International Paper is a producer of printing and writing papers. Products in this segment include uncoated and coated papers, uncoated bristols and pulp. This business produces papers for use in copiers, desktop and laser printers and digital imaging. End use applications include advertising and promotional materials, such as brochures, pamphlets, greeting cards, books, annual reports and direct mail. Uncoated papers also produce a variety of grades that are converted by its customers into envelopes, tablets, business forms and file folders. Uncoated papers are sold under private label and International Paper brand names that include Hammermill, Springhill, Williamsburg, Postmark, Accent, Great White, Chamex, Ballet, Rey, Pol and Svetocopy. The mills producing uncoated papers are located in the United States, France, Poland, Russia, Brazil and India. The mills have uncoated paper production capacity of approximately five million tons annually.

Pulp products include fluff, and southern softwood pulp, as well as southern and birch hardwood paper pulps. These products are produced in the United States, France, Poland, Russia, and Brazil and are sold around the world. International Paper facilities have annual dried pulp capacity of about 1.7 million tons.

Consumer Packaging

International Paper is a producer of solid bleached sulfate board with annual United States production capacity of about 1.7 million tons. Its coated paperboard business produces coated paperboard for a variety of packag! ing and c! ommercial printing end uses. Its Everest, Fortress, and Starcote brands are used in packaging applications for everyday products, such as food, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, computer software and tobacco products. Its Carolina brand is used in commercial printing end uses, such as greeting cards, paperback book covers, lottery tickets, direct mail and point-of-purchase advertising. Its United States capacity is supplemented by about 365,000 tons of capacity at its mills producing coated board in Poland and Russia and by its International Paper & Sun Cartonboard Co., Ltd. joint venture in China, which has annual capacity of 1.0 million tons. Its Foodservice business produces cups, lids, food containers and plates through three domestic plants and four international facilities.

Distribution

xpedx, the Company�� North American merchant distribution business, distributes products and services to a number of customer markets, including commercial printers with printing papers and graphic pre-press, printing presses and post-press equipment; building services and away-from-home markets with facility supplies; manufacturers with packaging supplies and equipment, and to a number of customers, it provides distribution capabilities, including warehousing and delivery services. xpedx is the wholesale distribution marketer in these customer and product segments in North America, operating 108 warehouse locations in the United States and Mexico.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Diane Alter]

  Dividend Stocks That Increased Payout in September

  Accenture plc (NYSE: ACN) announced a 14.8%, or $0.12 per share, increase to its semiannual dividend. The management consulting firm will now pay a semiannual dividend of $0.93. Shares yield 2.53%. Agruim Inc. (NYSE: AGU) boosted its dividend by $1.00 per share to a total dividend of $3.00 on an annualized basis. Shares of the global retailer of agricultural products now sprout a 3.54% yield. Air Industries Group Inc. (NYSE: AIRI) doubled its dividend to $0.125 per share. The maker of airplane and helicopter parts now floats a lofty yield of 6.6%. Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc. (NYSE: ARE) upped its dividend 4.6% to $0.68 per quarter for a yield of 4.21%. Banner Corp. (Nasdaq: BANR) boosted its quarterly dividend 25% to $0.15 per share. The parent company of Banner and Islander Bank serves the Pacific Northwest region. Brady Corp. (NYSE: BRC) lifted its quarterly dividend 2.6% to $0.78 per share. It was the 28th straight dividend increase from the identification solutions company. Shares yield 2.57%. Campbell Soup Co. (NSE: CPB) raised its quarterly dividend to $0.31 per share, up from $0.29. The company last raised its dividend in November 2010. Shares yield a hearty 3.06%. CLARCOR Inc. (NYSE: CLC) raised its quarterly dividend 26% to $0.17 per share. It's the largest percentage increase from the Tennessee-based diversified marketer of mobile filtration and packaging products in the last 20 years, and it continues the company's consecutive streak of increasing dividends for the last 30 years. Franklin Resources Inc. (NYSE: BEN) boosted its quarterly dividend 2.6% to $0.10 per share. Frisch's Restaurants Inc. (NYSE: FRS) increased its quarterly dividend 12.5% to $0.18. Shares yield 3.10% The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (NYSE: GT), in a move that suggests good times are ahead, reinstated its dividend at $0.05 per share. Good

Best Dow Dividend Stocks To Own Right Now

It's tragic that it took a tragedy like last year's shooting at a Newton, Connecticut elementary school to get the ball rolling. Nevertheless, that ball is rolling now, and it's putting companies like L-3 Communications Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LLL), View Systems Inc. (OTCBB:VSYM), and American Science & Engineering, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASEI) in the spotlight. How so? Because VSYM, ASEI, and LLL make the tools that are, unfortunately, going to be the only way to absolutely ensure this nation's public schools are secure, and defended from gunmen like Newton's Adam Lanza.

That ball is a serious (read "seriously-funded") effort to put weapons detection systems - body scanners like the ones you'll walk through at an airport's security checkpoint - at school's doors. Yes, it's ominous, but inescapable. And, while it may only detect a weapon without actually preventing a shooter from entering a facility, a solid and applied locked-door policy can do the rest.... and using such tools will at least prevent a school's students from entering the building with an undetected weapon.

Top 5 Machinery Companies To Watch For 2016: Wintrust Financial Corporation(WTFC)

Wintrust Financial Corporation, through its subsidiaries, engages in community banking, specialty finance, and wealth management operations. Its Community Banking segment offers banking and financial services primarily to individuals, small to mid-sized businesses, local governmental units, and institutional customers. This segment?s products and services include deposit products, such as demand, negotiable order of withdrawal, money market, savings, and time deposit accounts; home equity, home mortgage, consumer, real estate, and commercial loans; safe deposit facilities; automated teller machines (ATMs); and Internet banking services. The company?s Specialty Finance segment offers financing for the payment of commercial insurance premiums to businesses and individuals; short-term accounts receivable financing; and out-sourced administrative services, including data processing of payrolls, billing, and cash management services to customers in the temporary staffing indu stry, as well as engages in the origination and purchase of residential mortgages for sale into the secondary market and provides the document preparation and other loan closing services to a network of mortgage brokers. This segment markets its products primarily through insurance agents and brokers. Its Wealth Management segment provides trust and investment services, asset management, and securities brokerage services, which are marketed primarily under the Wayne Hummer name. As of December 31, 2009, the company operated through 78 banking facilities, as well as owned 123 ATMs. Wintrust Financial Corporation was founded in 1992 and is based in Lake Forest, Illinois.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rick Aristotle Munarriz]

  Alamy You can never know in advance all the news that will move the market in a given week, but some things you can see coming. From a new tablet from Amazon to Microsoft giving Windows an overdue makeover, here are some of the items that will help shape the week that lies ahead on Wall Street. Monday -- Bank on It: We're just getting started with earnings season, but Monday will be relatively quiet on that front. One of the few companies kicking off the week with fresh financials will be Wintrust (WTFC), a financial holding company with $18 billion in assets. It operates 15 different community bank subsidiaries with 100 different locations. It may not be the same kind of snapshot of the financial industry that we got this past Friday when bigger banks reported, but we can't ignore the importance of community banks in gauging the state of the economic turnaround. Tuesday -- Pop Stars: Coca-Cola (KO) reports on Tuesday, and if that isn't enough we will have PepsiCo (PEP) checking in on Wednesday. Coke and Pepsi have been battling one another for years, but in some ways, they're united against common adversaries these days. Between the growing popularity of making sodas at home, and critics taking them on over the health implications of consuming too many sugary (or artificially sweetened) drinks, it's a whole different kind of cola war these days. Investors looking for growth may want to look elsewhere. Analysts see Pepsi's revenue inching just 2 percent higher when it reports. It's worse for Coca-Cola, with Wall Street targeting a 2 percent decline in sales. Wednesday -- Paypal Day: eBay (EBAY) reports its third quarter results on Wednesday. There was a time when eBay was strictly an online flea market, but these days we're seeing PayPal become a bigger part of the model. Yes, eBay also owns PayPal, the most popular way to settle online transactions outside of plastic. PayPal has started to expand its reach into traditional retailers, making it possible

Best Dow Dividend Stocks To Own Right Now: Ishares Trust S & P Global * (IXJ)

iShares S&P Global Healthcare Sector Index Fund (the Fund) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the Standard & Poor�� Global Healthcare Sector Index (the Index). The Index is a subset of the Standard & Poor�� Global 1200 Index, and measures the performance of companies that Standard & Poor�� deems to be a part of the healthcare sector. Component companies include healthcare providers, biotechnology companies, and manufacturers of medical supplies, advanced medical devices and pharmaceuticals.

The Fund invests in a representative sample of securities included in the Index that collectively has an investment profile similar to the Index. The Fund�� investment advisor is Barclays Global Fund Advisors.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By MONEYMORNING.COM]

  Consider the iShares S&P Global Healthcare Sect. (ETF) (NYSE: IXJ). While not a pure European play, it has one of the highest non-U.S. exposures in healthcare, most of which is European, and trades at a more reasonable P/E of 19. The fund is up 8.44% year to date and recently set a new all-time high, so it's definitely got momentum on its side.

Best Dow Dividend Stocks To Own Right Now: NeoPhotonics Corp (NPTN)

NeoPhotonics Corporation, incorporated on October 31, 1996, is a designer and manufacturer of photonic integrated circuit (PIC)-based modules and subsystems for bandwidth-intensive, high-speed communications networks. The Company has a portfolio of over 300 products, including products that enable data transmission at 10 gigabytes per second, 40 gigabytes per second and 100 gigabytes per second, agility products, such as reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexers (ROADMs) that allocate bandwidth to adjust for volatile traffic patterns, and access products that provide high-bandwidth connections to more devices and people over fixed and wireless networks. In October 2011, the Company acquired Santur Corporation. In June 2013, it announced first shipments of optical transceiver modules out of its new, high capacity factory in Dongguan, Guangdong Province, China.

The Company�� products are categorized in 34 product families. The Company sells its products to the network equipment vendors globally, including ADVA AG Optical Networking Ltd., Alcatel-Lucent SA, Ciena Corporation (including its recent acquisition of Nortel�� Metro Ethernet Networks business), Cisco Systems, Inc., FiberHome Technologies Group, ECI Telecom Ltd., Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson, Fujitsu Limited, Harmonic, Inc., Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, NEC Corporation, Nokia Siemens Networks B.V. and ZTE Corporation.

The Company competes with Finisar Corporation, JDS Uniphase Corporation, MRV Communications, Inc., NTT Electronics Corporation and Sumitomo Electric Device Innovations, Inc.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Anders Bylund]

  Close competitor NeoPhotonics (NYSE: NPTN  ) soared 15% higher. Larger rival JDS Uniphase (NASDAQ: JDSU  ) jumped 7.9% to become the fastest gainer on the S&P 500. If Ciena can beat its own expectations in selling Internet backbone equipment to a bevy of major telecoms, its chief rivals must eventually follow suit. JDS is only one month removed from its latest quarterly report, which sent shares diving 7% overnight (but all was forgiven a week later). NeoPhotonics also reported in early May, but didn't make any waves then.

Best Dow Dividend Stocks To Own Right Now: Canadian/Yen (HY)

Hyster-Yale Materials Handling, Inc. and its subsidiaries engage in the design, engineering, manufacture, sale, and service of a line of lift trucks and aftermarket parts worldwide. It offers components, such as frames, masts, and transmissions; and assembles lift trucks. The company markets its products primarily under the Hyster and Yale brand names to independent Hyster and Yale retail dealerships. It also sells aftermarket parts under the UNISOURCE, MULTIQUIP, and PREMIER brands to Hyster and Yale dealers for the service of competitor lift trucks. The company was incorporated in 1991 and is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Heavy-equipment maker�Hyster-Yale Materials Handling� (NYSE: HY  ) announced yesterday�its second-quarter dividend of $0.25 per share for both its Class A and Class B stock.

• [By Holly LaFon]

  The Financial sector was the best performer in the Barclays Aggregate Index during 3Q13, generating nominal and excess returns of 1.54% and 1.40%, respectively. Spreads in High Yield (HY) issues tightened substantially, propelling Ba/B credits to a 2.07% nominal and 1.74% excess return. Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS) also reacted positively to the Fed decision, as Agency MBS outperformed comparable duration Treasuries with a 1.03% nominal and 0.95% excess return. Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities (CMBS) were resilient as well, finishing 1.02% higher in nominal terms and 0.66% excess in 3Q13. Non-Corporate Credit issues fared positively in 3Q13, but with a relatively weaker 0.37% nominal and 0.41% excess return.

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Lift trucks aren't the sexiest business in the stock market, but for a long time, Hyster-Yale Materials Handling (NYSE: HY  ) rode the recovery in construction and manufacturing to big gains for its forklift business. Yet so far this year, Hyster-Yale stock has performed badly, as investors started to worry about the health of the global economy. After Hyster-Yale released its third-quarter results, some investors focused almost solely on the company's extremely strong results. Yet despite what Hyster-Yale said, the real question for the company remains whether the macroeconomic trends that have propelled the U.S. forward will spread across the world, or whether the sluggishness we've seen in Europe and elsewhere will eventually cause a slowdown in the U.S. as well. Let's take a closer look at how Hyster-Yale did last quarter.

• [By Vera Yuan]

  ��ift truck manufacturer Hyster-Yale Materials Handling, Inc. (HY) declined after the company provided qualitative guidance for the remainder of 2014 that may have been viewed negatively by some investors. Revenues and pre-tax income both increased during the quarter, but after-tax net income declined as a result of a higher tax rate.

Best Dow Dividend Stocks To Own Right Now: Transportadora de Gas del Sur SA (TGS)

Transportadora de Gas del Sur S.A. (TGS) is engaged in the transportation of natural gas and production and commercialization of natural gas liquids (NGL). TGS�� pipeline system connects major gas fields in southern and western Argentina with gas distributors and industries in those areas and in the greater Buenos Aires area. The Company also renders midstream services, which consist of gas treatment, removal of impurities from the natural gas stream, gas compression, wellhead gas gathering and pipeline construction, operation, and maintenance services. The Company operates in three segments: natural gas transportation services through its pipeline system; NGL production and commercialization, and other services, which include midstream and telecommunication services.

During the year ended December 31, 2009, the Company�� gas transportation represented approximately 42% of total net revenues. During 2009, its NGL production and commercialization segment accounted for 50% of the total revenues of the Company. During 2009, its other services segment accounted for 8% of total revenues of the Company. Its other services segment consists of midstream and telecommunications services. Through midstream services, TGS provides integral solutions related to natural gas from wellhead up to the transportation systems. The services consists of gas gathering, compression and treatment, as well as construction, operation and maintenance of pipelines, which are generally rendered to natural gas and oil producers at wellhead. The customers��portfolio also includes distribution companies, industrial users, power plants and refineries.

During 2009, the Company provided a range of technical services to different customers. The services consisted of connections to the transportation system, engineering inspections, project management and professional technical counseling. Telecommunication services are provided through Telcosur S.A. (Telcosur), who renders services both as an independent c! arrier of carriers and to corporate clients within its area. Telcosur has a digital land radio connection system.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sofia Horta e Costa]

  Telecom Italia SpA (TIT) lost 1.8 percent as Standard & Poor�� said it may downgrade the phone company�� debt to non-investment grade. TGS Nopec Geophysical Co. (TGS) tumbled the most in two years after reducing its revenue forecast. Celesio AG jumped to a three-year high on a report that McKesson Corp. may buy the German drug distributor.

• [By Dividend]

  Transportadora de Gas Del Sur S.A. (TGS) has a market capitalization of $308.26 million. The company employs 829 people, generates revenue of $466.44 million and has a net income of $43.33 million. Transportadora de Gas Del Sur�� earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounts to $170.33 million. The EBITDA margin is 36.52 percent (the operating margin is 27.41 percent and the net profit margin 9.29 percent).

Best Dow Dividend Stocks To Own Right Now: Rayonier Inc. REIT(RYN)

Rayonier, Inc. engages in the sale and development of real estate and timberland management, as well as in the production and sale of cellulose fibers in the United States, New Zealand, and Australia. The company operates in four segments: Timber, Real Estate, Performance Fibers, and Wood Products. Timber segment owns, leases, or manages timberlands and sells standing timber at auction to third parties, as well as sells delivered logs. Real Estate segment sells medium and large tracts of land with infrastructure. This segment holds development and rural properties primarily in the southeast United States. Performance Fibers segment manufactures cellulose specialties that are used principally in acetate textile fibers, cigarette filters, rigid packaging, LCD screens, photographic film, impact-resistant plastics, high-tenacity rayon yarn, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, detergents, food casings, and food products; and absorbent materials that are used in disposable baby diapers, feminine hygiene products, incontinence pads, convalescent bed pads, industrial towels and wipes, and nonwoven fabrics. Wood Products segment primarily manufactures and sells dimension lumber used for residential and industrial construction applications. In addition, Rayonier involves in trading and exporting logs, lumber, and wood panel products. As of December 31, 2005, it owned, leased, or managed approximately 2.5 million acres of timberland and real estate. The company has a joint venture with RREEF Infrastructure to own and manage timber lands in New Zealand. Rayonier has elected to be treated as a real estate investment trust (REIT) for federal income tax purposes and would not be subject to federal income tax on its REIT income that it distributes to its shareholders. The company, formerly known as Rainier Pulp & Paper Company, was founded in 1926. Rayonier is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Michael Calia]

  Among the companies with shares expected to actively trade in Monday’s session are Caterpillar Inc.(CAT), Apple Inc.(AAPL) and Rayonier Inc.(RYN)

• [By Saibus Research]

  WY and the majority of the timber, forest and paper products companies have a track record of unimpressive returns on capital, cyclical revenue and profit trends, heavy use of capital expenditures, and significant environmental regulation. We also think that WY's conversion to a REIT was a mistake. Morningstar Investment Research's Timber, Forest and Paper Products analyst Dan Rohr said it best when he rated WY and its Timber REIT peers Rayonier (RYN), Potlatch (PCH) and Plum Creek (PCL) as not possessing any economic moat. That probably explains why we only have an ancillary exposure to this industry for our proprietary portfolio based on our holdings in Brookfield Infrastructure (BIP) and Cintas (CTAS). Brookfield's Timber segment only accounts for 5% of its Fund Flows from operations and Cintas's document management business is suffering from reduced prices on recycled paper. At least Cintas Document Management only accounts for 8% of Cintas's revenue.

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Rayonier (NYSE: RYN) was also up, gaining 6.78 percent to $43.97 after the company reported Q4 results and announced its plans to separate into two public companies.